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UMass Lowell 'River Hawk Pride' flying high

By Alana Melanson, amelanson@lowellsun.com

Updated:
09/03/2014 06:37:33 AM EDT

LOWELL -- "River Hawk Pride" was flowing at UMass Lowell on Tuesday as the school welcomed a record total of more than 17,000 students for the fall semester, including more than 10,000 undergraduate students.

Tuesday also marked the debut of the new UMass Lowell fight song, "River Hawk Pride," written by Dan Lutz, director of university bands, and Deb Huber, associate director of university bands.

At the new-student convocation held Tuesday morning at the Tsongas Center, Chancellor Marty Meehan welcomed a freshman class of 1,672, the largest incoming class in the history of the university.

In addition to being the most diverse class in the school's history, he said, it's also the most academically accomplished.

The class's average high-school grade-point average of 3.43 is the highest the university has ever seen, Meehan said. The average SAT score, math and verbal combined, is also 16 points higher than the previous class, and 79 points higher than the class that graduated two years ago, he said.

"We know, because of your prior accomplishments, that you can achieve great academic success at this university," Meehan said.

He also welcomed the largest group of transfer students ever seen, at nearly 1,200.

"All of you combined are part of an undergraduate population that, for the first time in this university's history, is over 10,000 students," Meehan said. "You have set new standards for this university, and I say congratulations.

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Of the new students, he said 360 were welcomed to the new Honors College, recently elevated from the former Honors Program, which was in existence for the past 19 years.

The theme of this year's convocation was "Create your legacy, make a difference."

"When you're back at the Tsongas Center in four years to receive your diploma, what will you point to as your greatest accomplishment as an undergraduate?" Meehan asked. "If it was making a difference in someone's life, your time here will be well spent."

Mayor Rodney Elliott welcomed students and urged them to partake in all that the city of Lowell has to offer. "We not only want you to become part of the city, we want you to become part of the community," he said.

Keynote speaker Deanne Bell, a mechanical engineer and host of the PBS children's show "Design Squad," discussed her unconventional career progression that took her from Raytheon to television and now to launching Future Engineers, a nonprofit agency that aims to bring engineering into classrooms by challenging students to create 3-D models for space.

Bell has also appeared on the Discovery Channel's "Smash Lab" and the National Geographic Channel's "The Egyptian Job," and co-hosted the DIY Network's "Money Hunters" and ESPN's "Rise Up."

She discussed the importance of dreaming big, being adaptive, establishing and nurturing connections, being open to all personal and professional opportunities, and trying to combine passion and career.

"If you can dream it, you can make it happen," Bell said.

Amanda Robinson, Student Government president, urged new students to take pride in their university.

"Far-fetched as it may seem, pride is a force that, if held with great fortitude, has the capacity to transform communities," she said, pointing to such examples as the numerous changes at UMass Lowell under Meehan's leadership and the late U.S. Sen. Paul Tsongas' contributions to the revitalization of Lowell.

New students -- the first class to enjoy Division I sports for their entire stay at the university -- showed their pride as they shouted out the words to "River Hawk Pride," performed by the UMass Lowell Marching Band.

"Our wings unfurled and talons curled, we swoop and strike, then we score," they sang.

Lutz and Huber, who have worked together for nearly 25 years, created the song over the past year after a decade of contests failed to produce a catchy song that captured the essence of UMass Lowell pride. Lutz, with the university since 1979, composed the music, while Huber, a 1989 UMass Lowell graduate and longtime poet, penned the lyrics.

They said it was an honor and a privilege to be able to create the historic song for the university.

"To know that this is my school, and this is something that will last, it's pretty humbling," Huber said. "It's pretty exciting, but it's pretty humbling."

Lutz said the last seven years have been a rebirth for the school.

"The energy on campus is palpable," he said. "It's not just from new faculty and new students. It's from people who have been here a long time."

Newcomers to the marching band were excited to have taken part in the unveiling of the fight song.

"It's kind of surreal," said mellophone player Sarah Perrin, 18, of Peabody, a music-performance student seeking to double-major in statistics.

Trumpet player Michael Conoby, 19, of Acton, a mechanical-engineering major, said he didn't know the school didn't have a fight song until he had to learn it at band camp.

"I said, 'Sure, I'll happily be part of this piece of history for the university,'" he said.

"It's very cool," said bass player Steven Aitchison, 18, of Waltham, a music-studies major. "I've been bragging about it, actually, to people outside of the school."

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